Category Archives: surprise

I’m visiting my parents again. My dad is in a long queue for a new knee on the Spanish national health service, so after my conference I trotted a couple of hundred kilometres down the coast to boost his spirits … Continue reading →

My grandad – the old soldier – is getting noticeably more infirm. He’s 93, so arguably we should have foreseen it. But to see him outpacing his older daughter (my auntie has only recently had a hip op) you wouldn’t … Continue reading →

We spent the last few days in north-west Wales with both sets of in-laws. Despite being in a mobile-signal blackspot, and despite coping for four days with my parents, and despite the fact that neither Gwynedd nor Conwy are exactly … Continue reading →

The past few weeks have been rather packed for me, which will I hope explain such a long period of blog-related silence. Worry not unduly, for all continues well in the mighty, vaulted halls of Smallbeds of that ilk; laird, … Continue reading →

While coming back on the ferry I was the sole witness to a minor miracle. My excessively short-sighted eyes have never got on well with photochromic lenses; besides, when I buy my expensive, extra-thin, extra-brittle, extra-fragile glasses – suitably powerful … Continue reading →

(I want to write – indeed, still intend to write – about nicer cycling experiences. But events require me to at least make a historical record of what happened today. I must also apologise if I have to revise any … Continue reading →

I’ve been away from blogging for a good couple of weeks now, and physically away from my computer for around ten days. This has been spent in a landline-free, signal-free Breton valley near Guingamp. Every once in a while a … Continue reading →